Larry Ward, chairman and founder of “Gun Appreciation Day,” thinks that he has an answer to why slavery occurred in this country.

The pro-gun advocate appeared on CNN this morning, to speak on the issue of gun control plus promote Gun Appreciation Day, and outlined his belief that slavery would not have happened if Black people had guns.

While Ward has largely been ridiculed for holding such an event, and for scheduling it on Martin Luther King’s holiday, in spite of the late civil rights leader’s legacy of non-violence, he has remained defiant.

“I think Martin Luther King, Jr. would agree with me if he were alive today that if African Americans had been given the right to keep and bear arms from day one of the country’s founding, perhaps slavery might not have been a chapter in our history,” Ward added.

Of course his words didn’t sit well with Maria Roach, of United for Change USA. Roach appeared on the news network with Ward and called his theory “ridiculous.” She also took issue with Gun Appreciation Day believing that it’s insensitive to the families of those who have lost loved ones, namely in the shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, last month.

In celebration of the his unofficial holiday Ward and other supporters have plans to take to gun ranges, shows and stores on January 19, in an exercise of the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms.